1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present invention relates to Web conferencing and more particularly to managing Web conference provisioning.
2. Description of the Related Art
The rapid development of the Internet has led to advanced modes of communication and collaboration. Using the Internet as a backbone, individuals worldwide can converge in cyberspace to share ideas, documents and images in a manner not previously possible through conventional telephony and video conferencing. To facilitate collaboration over the Internet, a substantial collection of technologies and protocols have been assembled to effectively deliver audio, video and data over the single data communications medium of the Internet. Nevertheless, the real-time delivery requirements of audio and video have strained the infrastructure of the Internet in its ability to support multimedia collaboration.
The strained nature of the Internet infrastructure has given rise to two different, competing delivery methods for Web conferencing. In a first delivery method, customer premise equipment (CPE) supports the entirety of a Web conference. In particular, the Web conferencing servers and the network infrastructure itself are hosted with the confines of a private network environment managed by the end user using mostly privately owned technology (hence, the term “CPE”). In a second, competing delivery method, the technology and infrastructure which supports Web conferencing can be outsourced to a host environment. In this hosted solution, the technology and infrastructure supporting Web conferences is managed by a third party and the supporting equipment further can be positioned off-site.
It is a distinct advantage of the hosted Web conferencing solution that economies of scale can permit the use of expensive, media delivery technologies not available for the typical, individual customer. In this regard, the underlying technology supporting Web conferences in a hosted solution can be disposed in a data center where network bandwidth is significantly wider than that of the terminal points of the customer data communications network. Hosted solutions also generally provide for enhanced scalability, usually for a fee, of course. Finally, communicative interoperability can be achieved with relative ease in the hosted solution in as much as the entire Web conferencing infrastructure remains outside of private firewalls for each respective collaborator.
Still, hosted solutions tend to be expensive and application interoperability can be difficult to achieve. Moreover, in that the hosted solution lies outside of the zone of the private firewall, security can be of a concern for Web conferences of a sensitive nature. The lesser expensive CPE based Web conferencing can provide for a level of security not provided by the hosted Web conferencing solution because the technology supporting the Web conferences typically remains inside the private network behind a firewall. Moreover, application interoperability can be better achieved because the CPE based Web conferencing solution can be a private, and singly minded solution designed to address the needs of particular users rather than a wide range of users.
Nevertheless, CPE based Web conferencing has given rise to significant communications interoperability problems—particularly where it is desirable to conference collaborators both from within the private data communications network, and also from outside the private data communications network. Scaling further can be difficult and the resources of the private customer can be taxed accordingly in order to scale Web conferencing capabilities to support larger, and more complex conferencing arrangements. Finally, unlike hosted solutions, audio integration can be difficult to setup and manage in the CPE based solution.
It will be recognized by the skilled artisan that both CPE based solutions and hosted solutions to Web conferencing can be appropriate only in particular circumstances. Where a Web conference involves only a handful of collaborators in a small workgroup behind the corporate firewall, a CPE based solution can be appropriate. Larger Web conferences incorporating collaborators both from behind and on the outside of the corporate firewall can demand a more sophisticated (and costly) hosted solution. Notwithstanding, the Web conferencing requirements of a customer can vary with time and circumstance. Moreover, complex situations can make it difficult for a customer to aptly select an appropriate approach.
Presently, the customer must manually select an approach in advance of scheduling a conference so that the customer can make private arrangements either internally or externally with the Web conference host. In many cases, the customer site can be pre-configured either for CPE based conferencing or hosted conferencing. To that extent that both CPE and hosted solutions may be available, the customer can manually select on approach, occasionally with the assistance of printed instructions advising the customer on which solution to select based upon a limited set of conferencing criteria. Just the same, it is not uncommon that there are no standards or “advisory documents” within a site which specify a methodology for selecting a Web conference host. In those circumstances, individual users acquire Web conferencing from internal or external sources as they see fit. Consequently, the organization exercises no control over the selection process and therefore no control over the costs of Web conferencing.
Nevertheless, the criteria can change with time and complex combinations of criteria can further complicate the selection process. To expect individual collaborators to read an advisory document each time the collaborator is to establish a conference can be unrealistic which can further complicate matters when the advisory document changes over time. In this respect, present systems and methodologies for establishing a Web conference using an appropriate conferencing technology seem deficient. A more effective and seamless process would be desirable.